Number of Filipinos with COVID-19 in Middle East, Africa rises

MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths among Filipinos in the Middle East and Africa continued to surge, with most of the 56 new cases coming from the said area.

In its latest bulletin on Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the total number of Filipinos abroad infected with the latest coronavirus strain is now at 8,417, with 536 of which died while 5,081 have recovered.

At least 2,800 are still undergoing treatment as of now.

“Today, the DFA reports that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among Filipinos abroad breached the 8,400 mark with 56 cases mostly in the Middle East and Africa,” DFA said in a statement.

“The total number of Filipinos under treatment also hit 2,800 with 5 new recoveries reported from Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East and 23 deaths from the latter region,” the department added.

The Middle East and Africa region remains to have the biggest share of the Filipino COVID-19 cases worldwide: of the 8,417 cases, 6,187 are from the said region, while 276 of 536 deaths also came from this area.

“Moreover, the DFA also received a new report from a country in Africa which brings the total number of countries/ regions with COVID-9 cases among Filipinos to 57,” DFA said.

Despite these issues, DFA assured the public that it remains committed to monitoring the situation of Filipinos abroad, as well in facilitating the repatriation of the Pinoy workers.

“Given these developments, the DFA assures its steadfast commitment to monitoring the status of our people abroad and effectively facilitating and coordinating the safe repatriation of our nationals affected by this pandemic,” DFA said.

As of Friday, there are 9.621 million confirmed cases worldwide, 489,687 of which have died while 4.852 million have recovered.

JPV